Pharmic Activation of PKG2 Alleviates Diabetes-Induced Osteoblast Dysfunction by Suppressing PLCß1-Ca2+-Mediated Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress.

As reported in our previous study, cinaciguat can improve implant osseointegration in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) rats by reactivating type 2 cGMP-dependent protein kinase (PKG2), but the downstream mechanisms remain unclear. In the present study, we investigated the favorable effect of cinaciguat on primary rat osteoblast, which was cultivated on titanium disc under vitro T2DM conditions (25 mM glucose and 200 µM palmitate), and clarified the therapeutic mechanism by proteomic analysis. The results demonstrated that T2DM medium caused significant downregulation of PKG2 and induced obvious osteoblast dysfunction. And overexpression of PKG2 by lentivirus and cinaciguat could promote cell proliferation, adhesion, and differentiation, leading to decreased osteoblasts injury. Besides, proteomic analysis revealed the interaction between PKG2 and phospholipase Cß1 (PLCß1) in the cinaciguat addition group, and we further verified that upregulated PKG2 by cinaciguat could inhibit the activation of PLCß1, then relieve intracellular calcium overload, and suppress endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress to ameliorate osteoblast functions under T2DM condition. Collectively, these findings provided the first detailed mechanisms responsible for cinaciguat provided a favorable effect on promoting osseointegration in T2DM and demonstrated a new insight that diabetes mellitus-induced the aberrations in PKG2-PLCß1-Ca2+-ER stress pathway was one underlying mechanism for poor osseointegration.

Activation of Oxytocin Receptors Excites Subicular Neurons by Multiple Signaling and Ionic Mechanisms.

Oxytocin (OXT) is a nonapeptide that serves as a neuromodulator in the brain and a hormone participating in parturition and lactation in the periphery. The subiculum is the major output region of the hippocampus and an integral component in the networks that process sensory and motor cues to form a cognitive map encoding spatial, contextual, and emotional information. Whilst the subiculum expresses the highest OXT-binding sites and is the first brain region to be activated by peripheral application of OXT, the precise actions of OXT in the subiculum have not been determined. Our results demonstrate that application of the selective OXT receptor (OXTR) agonist, [Thr4,Gly7]-oxytocin (TGOT), excited subicular neurons via activation of TRPV1 channels, and depression of K+ channels. The OXTR-mediated excitation of subicular neurons required the functions of phospholipase Cß, protein kinase C, and degradation of phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate (PIP2). OXTR-elicited excitation of subicular neurons enhanced long-term potentiation via activation of TRPV1 channels. Our results provide a cellular and molecular mechanism to explain the physiological functions of OXT in the brain.

BMP-2 Induced Expression of PLCß1 That is a Positive Regulator of Osteoblast Differentiation.

Bone morphogenetic protein 2 (BMP-2) is a critical growth factor that directs osteoblast differentiation and bone formation. Phosphoinositide-phospholipase Cß 1 (PLCß1) plays a crucial role in the initiation of the genetic program responsible for muscle differentiation. Differentiation of C2C12 mouse myoblasts in response to insulin stimulation is characterized by a marked increase in nuclear PLCß1. Here, the function of PLCß1 in the osteogenic differentiation was investigated. Briefly, in C2C12 cells treated with BMP-2 we assist to a remarkable increase in PLCß1 protein and mRNA expression. The data regarding the influence on differentiation demonstrated that PLCß1 promotes osteogenic differentiation by up-regulating alkaline phosphatase (ALP). Moreover, PLCß1 is present in the nuclear compartment of these cells and overexpression of a cytosolic-PLCß1mutant (cyt-PLCß1), which lacks a nuclear localization sequence, prevented the differentiation of C2C12 cells into osteocytes. Recent evidence indicates that miRNAs act as important post transcriptional regulators in a large number of processes, including osteoblast differentiation. Since miR-214 is a regulator of Osterix (Osx) which is an osteoblast-specific transcription factor that is needful for osteoblast differentiation and bone formation, we further investigated whether PLCß1 could be a potential target of miR-214 in the control of osteogenic differentiation by gain- and loss- of function experiment. The results indicated that inhibition of miR-214 in C2C12 cells significantly enhances the protein level of PLCß1 and promotes C2C12 BMP-2-induced osteogenesis by targeting PLCß1.

Roles of BN52021 in platelet-activating factor pathway in inflammatory MS1 cells.

AIM: To determine the effects of BN52021 on platelet-activating factor receptor (PAFR) signaling molecules under lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced inflammatory conditions in MS1 cells. METHODS: MS1 cells (a mouse pancreatic islet endothelial cell line) were grown in Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum, 2 mmol/L glutamine and 100 µg/mL penicillin/streptomycin in 5% CO2 at 37 °C. After growth to confluency in media, the cells were processed for subsequent studies. The MS1 cells received 0, 0.1, 1 and 10 µg/mL LPS in this experiment. The viability/proliferation of the cells induced by LPS was observed using a 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide colorimetric assay. Apoptosis and necrosis of the cells under the inflammatory condition described previously were observed using Hoechst 33342-propidium iodide staining. Adenylate cyclase (AC), phospholipase A2 (PLA2), phospholipase Cß (PLCß), protein tyrosine kinase (PTK), G protein-coupled receptor kinases (GRK) and p38-mitogen-activated protein kinase (p38 MAPK) mRNA in the PAFR signaling pathway were measured by real-time polymerase chain reaction. The protein expression level of phosphorylated AC (p-AC), phosphorylated PLA2 (p-PLA2), phosphorylated PTK (p-PTK), phosphorylated p38 MAPK (p-p38 MAPK), PLCß and GRK was measured using Western blotting analysis. RESULTS: The activity of MS1 cells incubated with different concentrations of LPS for 6 h decreased significantly in the 1 µg/mL LPS group (0.49 ± 0.10 vs 0.67 ± 0.13, P < 0.05) and 10 µg/mL LPS group (0.44 ± 0.10 vs 0.67 ± 0.13, P < 0.001), but not in 0.1 µg/mL group. When the incubation time was extended to 12 h (0.33 ± 0.05, 0.32 ± 0.03 and 0.25 ± 0.03 vs 0.69 ± 0.01) and 24 h (0.31 ± 0.01, 0.29 ± 0.03 and 0.25 ± 0.01 vs 0.63 ± 0.01), MS1 cell activity decreased in all LPS concentration groups compared with the blank control (P < 0.001). BN52021 significantly improved the cell activity when its concentration reached 50 µmol/L compared with the group that received LPS treatment alone, which was consistent with the results obtained from fluorescence staining. The mRNAs levels of AC (4.02 ± 0.14 vs 1.00 ± 0.13), GRK (2.63 ± 0.03 vs 1.00 ± 0.12), p38 MAPK (3.87 ± 0.07 vs 1.00 ± 0.17), PLA2 (3.31 ± 0.12 vs 1.00 ± 0.12), PLCß (2.09 ± 0.08 vs 1.00 ± 0.06) and PTK (1.85 ± 0.07 vs 1.00 ± 0.11) were up-regulated after LPS stimulation as compared with the blank control (P < 0.05). The up-regulated mRNAs including AC (2.35 ± 0.13 vs 3.87 ± 0.08), GRK (1.17 ± 0.14 vs 2.65 ± 0.12), p38 MAPK (1.48 ± 0.18 vs 4.30 ± 0.07), PLCß (1.69 ± 0.10 vs 2.41 ± 0.13) and PLA2 (1.87 ± 0.11 vs 2.96 ± 0.08) were significantly suppressed by BN52021 except for that of PTK. The level of p-AC (1.11 ± 0.12 vs 0.65 ± 0.08), GRK (0.83 ± 0.07 vs 0.50 ± 0.03), PLCß (0.83 ± 0.16 vs 0.50 ± 0.10) and p-p38 MAPK (0.74 ± 0.10 vs 0.38 ± 0.05) was up-regulated after LPS stimulation as compared with the blank control (P < 0.05). The up-regulated proteins, including p-AC (0.65 ± 0.15 vs 1.06 ± 0.14), GRK (0.47 ± 0.10 vs 0.80 ± 0.06), PLCß (0.47 ± 0.04 vs 0.80 ± 0.19) and p-p38 MAPK (0.30 ± 0.10 vs 0.97 ± 0.05), was significantly suppressed by BN52021, but p-PLA2 and p-PTK protein level were not suppressed. CONCLUSION: BN52021 could effectively inhibit LPS-induced inflammation by down-regulating the mRNA and protein levels of AC, GRK, p38 MAPK, PLA2 and PLCß in the PAFR signaling pathway.